It is common practice in some parts of the world that schools advertise fast food items to students in return for funding from such businesses. I believe that children’s academic development can benefit from the money received. However, promoting junk food to students is harmful to their physical development.
The additional facilities that schools can afford due to the funding from those companies are beneficial to student learning, especially in low socioeconomic areas. Students in those areas are disadvantaged due to the lack of resources, hindering their school education journey. This can be exemplified by the growing number of school children dropping out after Year 10 in Western Sydney suburbs, compared to higher socioeconomic areas such as the Eastern Sydney suburbs. Having and allocating extra funding wisely can have a compounded effect on one’s access to opportunities in tertiary education.
On the other hand, advertising junk food to children encourages a poor diet. Fast food has a negative impact on a child’s health, as it contains high quantities of salt, sugar, artificial flavours and additives. This sets children up to be unhealthy adults, which can be expensive for the national health care system in the long run. Obesity and cardiac disease are typical examples of the health issues that can be faced by people who regularly consume food with high fat and sugar content. Exposing school students to unhealthy convenience food must be accompanied by effective physical education lessons, in which they are informed about food ingredients. In this way, children are capable of making critical decisions about what is advantageous to their health.
In conclusion, promoting fast food products to students can be both beneficial and counterproductive. School executives must organise educational content when taking up offers from businesses in order to avoid adverse consequences to young adults in the future.